Axa Private Equity to sell chemicals company to listed US buyer

The €227.5m sale of Eliokem will secure Axa an IRR of more than 20% and breathes life into a market recovering from last year's low

By

Nathan Williams

Updated: September 23, 2010 9:26 pm GMT

Axa Private Equity this morning continued to breathe life into the French buyouts market following a surprise agreement to sell chemicals company Eliokem to listed US firm Omnova Solutions for €227.5m, the latest in a recent flurry of deals from the French group.

The firm said it "did not anticipate at all an exit this year, but took the opportunity to explore a sale when a number of trade buyers expressed an interest. 'It's not every year that trade buyers are in the market and a window opens,' said Thibault Basquin,...